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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27661234">Kissing (Booth Optional)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niedergeschlagen/pseuds/Niedergeschlagen'>Niedergeschlagen</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Kissing Booth (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Live Love Laugh, Mutual Pining, but we move, guys the fact that I'm writing a Kissing Booth 2 fix-it is so shameful, the cheating is very canon-typical though but don't cheat on your partners kids!, this is such a cringey cheesefest</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 22:06:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,496</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27661234</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niedergeschlagen/pseuds/Niedergeschlagen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>She would miss this. At Harvard. She would miss having someone around her who knew her, really knew what made her tick. </p><p>But Noah was at Harvard. And, eventually, Noah would learn all of her ins and outs too. He would become the person who knew when to turn the radio on but leave it low so that she could still hear her own thoughts, he would play her silly arcade games with her, and he would become essentially a psychic who could tell her mood by the minute shifts in her body language. That was a good thing, Elle reminded herself. </p><p>***</p><p>Set after the events of The Kissing Booth 2, Elle reflects on her relationship with Lee. Ultimate Platonic Definitely-Not-In-Love BFFs for life, right? WRONG.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Elle Evans/Lee Flynn, Elle Evans/Noah Flynn, Lee Flynn/Rachel (The Kissing Booth), Minor or Background Relationship(s), and minor Elle/Marco but it's just a mention, this is WHOLLY just Elle/Lee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Kissing (Booth Optional)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Logically, Elle knew that the summer after graduation wouldn't last forever but despite the shadow of The Choice hanging over her, the lazy hot days she spent with Lee and Rachel, and Noah, most importantly, made it easy to forget. Besides, it was her final opportunity to just be — to be a teenager, to be at home, and to spend time with the people who mattered the most to her. Eventually, Noah would return to Boston, Rachel had been accepted into Stanford for pre-med, and Lee... Lee would be heading to Berkeley. <br/>
 </p><p>The root of her problems, now that she'd had the time to think on it, was Lee. It wasn't exactly that she blamed him for anything. No, God, no. It was just that... the idea of being across the country from Lee was a more unbearable thought than spending another year or four apart from Noah. She loved Noah, she really did love him. She'd chosen him over and over and over, put him above everything and everyone else at one point. But in the end, she had done it because she'd always had her best friend on her side. She'd had the privilege to choose Noah, because Lee had chosen her. Lee was her rock, her anchor. </p><p><br/>
Speaking of Lee. The two of them were stretched out on a towel at the beach, trying to catch a tan or at least some vitamin D. It had been so long since it had been just them, there was always someone else butting into their hangouts, delegating Lee’s attention elsewhere. But this time around, Noah had gone to see some other friends, and Rachel had a family outing. </p><p><br/>
"You know," Elle started. She was peering up at the bright cerulean sky with one eye cracked open. She could feel Lee turn his head. His breath tickled her neck. Lee's proximity was always a comfort. But something in her stomach turned at the warmth emanating from him. <br/>
 </p><p>He nudged her side gently, an arm grazing her stomach. "Yeah?"<br/>
 </p><p>His voice sounded a bit froggy, unused. They'd been silent for a while. It was so easy to be around Lee. Even when they hadn't been talking, it'd felt as if there was a constant chatter between them. Like they were psychic. <br/>
 </p><p>She rolled over to her side, coming nose-to-nose with him. They'd always been close. She couldn't count the times she'd done this before but the weird feeling of Something (definitely with a capital S) grew stronger. <br/>
 </p><p>"Can I tell you a secret?" she whispered. <br/>
 </p><p>Lee's eye crinkled with his smile. "Of course."<br/>
 </p><p>Here goes nothing, Elle thought. "I lied earlier. I got into Berkeley and Harvard."<br/>
 </p><p>Lee sat up. "WHAT!?"<br/>
 </p><p>She winced. "Yeah."<br/>
 </p><p>"You weren't waitlisted?"<br/>
 </p><p>"No... listen, Lee, I'm sorry —"<br/>
 </p><p>"MY BEST FRIEND GOT INTO HARVARD AND BERKELEY!" <br/>
 </p><p>Someone whistled loudly nearby. A family sitting a few feet away from them cheered, the girl yelled 'Congrats, sis!' at her. Elle flushed at the well-wishing.<br/>
 </p><p>Lee tackled her in a hug, his arms wrapping around her, his whole body enveloping hers. She had to suppress a shiver.<br/>
 </p><p>"Oh, my God. You're amazing, Rochelle Evans."<br/>
 </p><p>"Thank you." She put her own arms around him and squeezed, nuzzling her face into the crook of his neck. More quietly, she added, "I don't know what to do."<br/>
 </p><p>Lee started to pull back but Elle could only tighten her arms around him, burying her nose into his skin. She inhaled once, then a second time. Like she was anchoring herself to him. The thought that a passerby would see them and think they were just your typical young lovebirds, instead of, you know, lifelong ultimate besties and platonic soulmates, kind of titillated her. <br/>
 </p><p>She could feel his finger trace a line down her back. It was meant to be comforting but it left a trail of goosebumps on her skin. Elle shivered.<br/>
 </p><p>"Are you cold?" Lee asked. "Do you wanna go home?"<br/>
 </p><p>"No, I'm okay," she muttered. Sighing, she loosened her vice-like grip on him. "I don't wanna go home but I could stand to leave."<br/>
 </p><p>"Okay." Lee's dark eyes were still trained on her as they gathered their stuff. She could practically feel his gaze boring a hole into her back when she shuffled on a t-shirt. <br/>
 </p><p>Lee drove the opposite direction from home. It was like he was reading her mind once again, knowing perfectly well that she wanted to go for a ride. He always knew what she wanted. Often, he knew what she needed or wanted, even when she didn't know that herself. <br/>
 </p><p>It was just easy. Being with Lee. It had always been easy. <br/>
 </p><p>They didn't always have to talk, like right now. Elle was curled up in the shotgun seat, knees drawn to her chest and staring probably  a little morosely at the passing scenery. Lee had turned on some music, but low enough that she could barely make out the lyrics. <br/>
 </p><p>She would miss this. At Harvard. She would miss having someone around her who <em>knew</em> her, really knew what made her tick. <br/>
 </p><p>But Noah was at Harvard. And, eventually, Noah would learn all of her ins and outs too. He would become the person who knew when to turn the radio on but leave it low so that she could still hear her own thoughts, he would play her silly arcade games with her, and he would become essentially a psychic who could tell her mood by the minute shifts in her body language. That was a good thing, Elle reminded herself. He was her boyfriend, and they'd already gone through so much. And she was crazy about him. Absolutely crazy about him. <br/>
 </p><p>But she couldn't pretend that it didn't bother her; the idea that one day, maybe after a few months, maybe after a few years, in Boston, she would wake up and realise that Noah had taken Lee's place. That she would visit Lee at Berkeley and despite their best efforts, they would not know how to finish each other's sentences anymore. That they would call each other 'best friend' but know in their heart of hearts that it wasn't true anymore because being best friends with Lee had never been about just being friends, Elle realized. It had always been about being known, truly seeing each other, and yeah, sometimes, it was about their gross codependency and living in each other's pockets. <br/>
 </p><p>"Can you pull over somewhere?" she asked. Her voice sounded small, a wounded little animal, and Lee's eyes snapped to her face immediately. Worry seemed to cloud him. She flashed him a waifish smile. <br/>
 </p><p>There was a levee on the side of the road, overlooking the ocean. Lee pulled onto it, and parked the car. Elle stared at the view for a moment. The Sun had stretched its gilded fingers across the Pacific. Dusk was about to fall.<br/>
 </p><p>"It's beautiful," Elle said. <br/>
 </p><p>Next to her, Lee sighed. "What's going on?" <br/>
 </p><p>She bit her lip, worrying it into her mouth. How was she supposed to explain her irrational yet rational fears to Lee? How was she supposed to tell him that every single fibre of her being was screaming for her to not follow Noah to Harvard? Her mind was pulling all of the stops to get her to stay in California, to go to Berkeley with Lee, and to continue feeling like she was whole only when he was around. She was afraid he wouldn't understand, and that the rift between them that had begun when she'd fallen for Noah, the one that had furthered each time Rachel had stolen Lee away, had already become too big, too uncrossable. What if he thought she was being weird?<br/>
 </p><p>Elle sniffled. "I just... I don't wanna lose you, man."<br/>
 </p><p>She peeked at him from the corner of her eye. Lee didn't look confused at all. There was a strangely confident resolve on his face. She could tell he was as anxious as she was, but more importantly, she knew that he knew exactly what she was talking about. <br/>
 </p><p>"Things have already changed so much," she continued. It was like there was a volcano of fear inside her, trying its best to erupt. She fidgeted with the laces of her Converse. They were the red high-tops her and Lee had bought matching pairs of, as a joke, because of their shared birthday. Something dumb about being twins. Sometimes it felt like they were trying to meld together, into one human being rather than Elle and Lee. Lee and Elle. <em>ElleAndLee</em>. "And, like, Harvard is a stupid good school."<br/>
 </p><p>Lee snorted. "Yeah."<br/>
 </p><p>He looked fond. Lee never teased her about her bouts of ineloquence. She knew she had her moments when she sounded ridiculous, like a dumb Valley girl quoting a Buzzfeed listicle. He never teased. He never criticised her for being herself. <br/>
 </p><p>"I should go to Harvard. It's an Ivy League. And Noah's there, but..."<br/>
 </p><p>"Yeah," Lee repeated. His voice was suddenly thick. When Elle looked over at him again, he was blinking rapidly, avoiding eye contact.<br/>
 </p><p>"No, Lee..." she put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "Don't, you're gonna make me cry too."<br/>
 </p><p>He laughed wetly. "I'm not crying. I'm just thinking about how<em> I</em> didn't get into Harvard. You know me, dying to become an Ivy League boy. Be a carbon copy of my brother."<br/>
 </p><p>She knew he was joking but the memory of the conversation they'd had over a year ago made her heart clench. She remembered the way he'd looked when he'd told her about how everything he had ever wanted, Noah had gotten. And Elle had been the only thing in the world that had been just his. <br/>
 </p><p>She was. <br/>
 </p><p>She still was.<br/>
 </p><p>Elle hadn't given it much thought since. But she realized now that, no matter what, she would never be Noah's the way she was Lee's. There was no person on Earth that she wanted to belong to, other than her best friend. <br/>
 </p><p>And those weren't exactly BFF thoughts, were they?<br/>
 </p><p>"Lee, I..." she trailed off. Where was her stupid brash courage when she needed it? The courage that had made her sign up for the dance competition, to suggest the Kissing Booth, to go after Noah Flynn of all people, to kiss Marco in front of an audience of hundreds. Where was all <em>that</em> when she needed it? <br/>
 </p><p>Lee looked at her. His cheeks and nose were red. It was a little bit adorable. <br/>
 </p><p>Younger Elle would have repressed those thoughts. She would have chalked them up to societal conditioning or whatever, told herself that she was being stupid. But now, she almost basked in the warmth of her affection for Lee. Those thoughts felt natural, right. <br/>
 </p><p>"Would you have applied? If you'd known I was going?"<br/>
 </p><p>He nodded. "Yeah."<br/>
 </p><p>"Well, I'm not going." <br/>
 </p><p>Elle wasn't exactly surprised at her words. She had been stewing on the decision for a while now, and it wasn't like she was choosing Berkeley just because of Lee. Harvard was too far from home, too far from her family. Harvard had a higher tuition fee, too. And Berkeley was an amazing college. <br/>
 </p><p>And deep down she knew, that if her and Noah broke up, she couldn't bear seeing him around Boston. She'd feel lonely and unmoored. That was not the case with Lee. They would never fall out like that. Their relationship, weird and symbiotic and greedy as it was, had always been perfectly mutual. Before Noah, nothing had ever come between them.<br/>
 </p><p>"You're not?" Hope flitted across Lee's face. His eyes, so big and so brown, were searching her face. Elle could only shake her head. <br/>
 </p><p>He hugged her again. This felt more desperate, more reverential almost. <br/>
 </p><p>"Why wouldn't you?" Lee asked, his lips moving against her shoulder. Elle's heartbeat picked up at his touch. Because she could, she buried her fingers in his hair. She used to do this, right after her mom had died. She'd sought out Lee for comfort. As they'd aged, they'd continued to hug and hold each other and high five and fist bump and pepper each other's bodies with unnecessary friendly touches, but the kind of unmitigated desire for touch had waned. Now, she was hungry for it again. She could barely stand the fact that they hadn't yet somehow merged into one being. <br/>
 </p><p>She scratched his scalp. With anyone else, it would've been a little gross. "Because I'm coming to Berkeley with you."<br/>
 </p><p>Lee pulled away a little, levelling their gazes. He looked serious. "If this is about the stupid best friends rules we made —"<br/>
 </p><p>She shook her head. "It's not. It's... it's the tuition, it's being away from my family, it's not being able to see you every day, whenever I want."<br/>
 </p><p>"We'd FaceTime every day."<br/>
 </p><p>"You know that's not true," she said. Her fingers were still tangled in his hair, absentmindedly rubbing little circles into his skin. Lee felt hot to the touch. "I don't wanna wake up one morning and realize I've lost you."<br/>
 </p><p>"You could never lose me, Elle."<br/>
 </p><p>She let her head fall forwards, forehead softly pressing against his. "I know. But still, in the end, I don't care about anything or anyone more than I care about you. I could be dirt poor, but as long as I had you, I'd be the happiest person alive."<br/>
 </p><p>"You don't mean that." Lee was looking at her, a little cross-eyed because of their close proximity. "Elle, you can't mean that. Please, I know you're not saying what I think you're saying." In a low mumbling voice, he added: "What I hope you're saying."<br/>
  </p><p>"I am," she replied. "And I know it's not what you wanna hear. And it's not what I've been saying for the past two years but I mean it. I think I've always meant it. You've always been my whole world, Lee Flynn."<br/>
 </p><p>Kissing Lee wasn't a great idea, but it was somehow simultaneously the best idea that she'd ever had. And he kissed her back. <br/>
 </p><p>He kissed her back!<br/>
 </p><p>"Elle, I don't know what's happening right now," he said when they broke apart. "You're dating my brother. I have a girlfriend. Why are you doing this to me?"<br/>
 </p><p>"Because you're my best friend, and I love you." <br/>
 </p><p>"I love you, too, Elle but —"<br/>
 </p><p>"You're not listening," she interrupted. "I love you. I'm in love with you, Lee."<br/>
 </p><p>"<em>Oh</em>."<br/>
 </p><p>That's right, she thought, <em>oh. </em><br/>
 </p><p>Suddenly, Lee was kissing her again. Pressing her against the door of the convertible. The joy in Elle's chest brimmed over, and she was laughing. He smiled against her lips. <br/>
 </p><p>Nothing else on Earth mattered because the Sun was setting over the ocean, and the warm wind was dancing against her skin, and Lee was kissing her into oblivion, and she couldn't contain the happiness in her heart. <br/>
 </p><p>He pressed a very ginger kiss on her lips before pulling away. "I'm in love with you, too."</p><p>  <br/>
 <br/>
 </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Is this embarrassing and a cringey and a cheesefest? Yes. Did I still spend a hot minute writing this because Lee Flynn is the golden retriever boy next door whose brother has always gotten everything he ever wanted, except Elle. Then Noah got her too? Yes. Also, Elle... Rochelle Evans, my sweet, my dear, maybe you should do some soul-searching and realise what's good for you.</p><p>Also, if there's any weird British spellings, that's my bad. I have British brainrot, luvs. And I did not have this beta read. I did read it with my own eyes but I'm so tired after being at the ER for the night, so my deepest apologies; here be dragons.</p><p>Thanks so much for reading this. Hope you had A Time (TM) doing so. Also, I think this might be the first Elle x Lee fanfic. I couldn't find any which is why we're here. Smash that kudos button please xx</p><p>If you're my friends and you're here from my instagram story? No you're not &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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